Your first year at Loyola is bound to be one of the most exciting, liberating, thought-provoking, and inspiring times in your life. You will encounter opportunities and challenges you can't even imagine today, and Loyola is committed to helping you manage this transition successfully. Messina is a unique, first-year experience designed to help you adjust quickly to college-level work and forge a clear path to success at Loyola and in the life and career that will follow.

Messina offers an opportunity to explore a wide range of disciplines, appreciate their interconnectedness, and take to heart the importance of learning in your personal and intellectual growth. From your first days on campus, you will be connected to a support network that challenges you to think critically; discover your talents; connect your passions and gifts to the needs of your campus, local, and global communities; and learn, lead and serve in our diverse and changing world.

Messina features:

Two linked, first-year seminar courses—one in the fall and one in the spring—connected by one of three themes. One course will be taught by your core advisor.

Out-of-class experiences, events, performances, and excursions designed to extend classroom learning, build stronger communities around learning, and establish deeper relationships with faculty, administrators, and fellow students

A chance to live in proximity to—but not necessarily in the same room or on the same floor with—other students in your Messina courses. Commuting students will also have access to the residence halls so they can spend more time with their Messina classmates